Rick Pitino suspended in sex scandal, Louisville could lose national title

Louisville men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino will be suspended for the first five games of ACC play in 2017-18 for failing to properly manage his team when a sex-for-pay scandal engulfed the basketball program in controversy, the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions announced Thursday.

Pitino also will not be allowed to have any contact with the team during the duration of the suspension.

The committee also announced that the program will be on probation for four years, and that all wins involving ineligible players between December 2010 to July 2014 must be vacated.

These punishments will be on top of the self-imposed postseason ban and self-imposed recruiting restrictions Louisville placed on itself in 2016.

It is unclear if the vacation of those wins will affect the Cardinals’ 2013 national championship. It may be a while before anyone knows for certain. The NCAA has given Louisville 45 days to provide a written list of games that were impacted by ineligible players. If any ineligible players were involved in the 2013 NCAA tournament, that could be sufficient enough to vacate Louisville’s title.

The committee blasted Pitino, saying he “violated NCAA head coach responsibility rules” by failing to properly monitor assistant Andre McGee, who is at the heart of the scandal. McGee allegedly hired strippers and escorts to entice players and prospective recruits.

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“Without dispute, NCAA rules do not allow institutional staff members to arrange for stripteases and sex acts for prospects, enrolled student-athletes and/or those who accompany them to campus,” the committee stated.

The other key figure of this scandal, Katina Powell, is a self-proclaimed former escort. Powell says McGee paid her $10,000 for 22 separate shows that were held in the Louisville dormitories between 2010 and 2014, hence the time frame provided for the pending punishment.

For its part, the University of Louisville plans to appeal the punishments. Greg Postel, Louisville’s interim president, said in a statement issued Thursday that the NCAA punishments “went beyond what we consider to be fair and reasonable.”

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“The entire UofL community is saddened by what took place. It never should have happened, and that is why the school acted to severely penalize itself in 2016,” Postel said. “Today, however, the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions went beyond what we consider to be fair and reasonable. We intend to appeal all aspects of the penalties.”

The NCAA already had meted out some punishments prior to the announcements Thursday.

McGee, for his alleged role in the scandal, received a 10-year show cause penalty, making him virtually unhirable. If any school were to hire him, it could be penalized. The show cause penalty’s purpose is to prevent coaches from violating NCAA rules at one school (thus saddling that school with whatever punishment is decided upon) and simply getting out of dodge by going to a new school. It is the harshest penalty possible for a collegiate coach.

In its Thursday announcement, the NCAA said McGee “acted unethically when he committed serious violations by arranging striptease dances and sex acts for prospects, student-athletes and others, and did not cooperate with the investigation.”

Louisville will also face a reduction of scholarships, restrictions on recruiting, a $5,000 fine and a loss of any funds gained from revenue sharing through the 2012-15 NCAA tournaments.